Inside Look: Owning and Flying a Vintage Mooney | The Prebuy Guys

The owner of a 1963 Mooney M20 gives us an inside look on what it’s like to own, fly, and maintain a vintage Mooney D model. We learn about aircraft ownership costs, Mooney maintenance, and tips for airplane owners. Plus the pros and cons of owning an airplane and why aircraft ownership beats renting.

Watch Part 1: Owning a Mooney M20J

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The Mooney is a wonderful aircraft if you know how to fly it. It has a high aspect ratio wing which is very efficient and an excellent cruise speed. It's a very well designed aircraft. Longitudinal trim is excellent. One problem in to days aviation world is the 4130 tube space frame in the cabin area has to be removed for crack testing these days. The Mooney is a pilots aeroplane. Undercarriage is short low and stiff. You need to keep the nose light on landing and take-off, which is fine. A great aircraft with brilliant performance but not for fools.Learn the P of F formula first ie., CL, HALF, ROW, V ,SQUARED, S. Retired CPL.

you would have to really love it for some reason, these things are not even closer to fast enough to be the hassle of ownership they are. We had a manual retracting that was such a fucking nightmare I left the wheels down most days. Avoid these old shit airplanes

I had a M20D for years; and had it for a number of years, before the price of flying went up.Loved the plane, and flew from Mexico to Canada, The O-360 is one of the most reliable engines, and the plane was one of the great planes; easy to fly and maintain. Flew high than you, and it was possible to get very low fuel consumption. Mine was a stock “D” with the retracting gear conversion. The “D” as you know was originally with fixed gear, as a trainer.

The Mooney M20C is what I got my complex endorsement in and I flew it to Minnesota from Texas many times. I loved that lowering the gear was the same as emergency procedure. I did have to learn to slow down. Many great memories in that Mooney. Tighter cockpit than the bonanza but it is a great plane.

I have always satisfied my aviation obsession by building and flying RC scale and sport model planes. I have also been a lifelong motorcyclist which has something in common with flying. Owning my own aircraft , the complexity of modern day flying over urban areas and actively flying on a weekly basis has always seemed overly complicated and too expensive for me.

The pilot did not mention what I think is the greatest value of a three-blade prop. Thrust from a three-blade prop is greater than a two-blade prop which goes to improved take-off performance and an improved climb rate. That notwithstanding, available horsepower is the purest basis for performance. As a result, the efficiency of the prop to produce thrust per horsepower is the compelling factor.

Dude what did your statement at 17:25 mean about headwinds "pushing in the throttle" in the Mooney as opposed to a Clyde Cessna "you're just stuck with it ?? Are you speaking about differences in wing configuration ( lowwing or highwing ) giving advantages in a headwind ??

3rd blade doesn't help under 200hp. 235 hp Cherokee definitely benefits. You don't need the extra area for field performance or climb under 200 hp, but you will carry the extra weight around, which affects performance the wrong way. I think you meant PMA parts right? for replacement parts. I am wondering though about the elevator trim system [spring cylinder like C-182?]

I have questions . How long can that 'Mooney' fly ? Is it a couple of hours ? How much did u pay to land in different airport ? I'm asking that question cause I'm interested in flying,but I don't have no knowledge of flying.Therefore,i'm planning to save some $$$ to get some classes in Europe or somewhere in South Africa and safe to get one of those aircraft..

Yeah man. Really good interview. Plane ownership is an insanely expensive proposition. Even for a cheap little Cessna 150. I’m glad he broke down his costs. And what he’s speaking is the very bare minimum of ownership. $12,000 per hear on any Mooney is very very cheap. His hangar is only $165/month???? That’s amazingly cheap. My wife and I between us make around $180,000 per year and I’ve looked into buying a plane and getting my license. No kids either. And I’ll tell you this: we can’t afford it. You need to be bringing home serious “fuck you” money in order to afford one of these money pits. I have a hard enough time maintaining all my other toys. Motorcycles, cars, jet skis etc. even if I got rid of all those and just concentrated all my money on a plane, it wouldn’t be economically viable. Unless you have money to burn, don’t buy a plane. Don’t rent a plane. Forget about flying. It’s not a dream that is within your reach.

Back in the early 80's, I owned an M20A, wood wing. It was a bit faster than the metal wing. Never a problem, cheap to fly & maintain. I would cruse at about 150 mph (economy cruise) and burn about 5 or 6 gallons an hour. It was a great, really fun airplane. I flew it once from Yuma on a hot day with 4 men on board, full fuel, and some baggage. A long cross country, way over gross. Upon takeoff, it was like driving a car with all 4 tires low on air. After I used up the fuel in the rear tank, and starting using the wing fuel, it flew just like always. I had to land in the AZ mountains at about 8500' and it performed great. The take off was also great.

For people that cannot afford to buy an airplane, some flight clubs are great. One of the flight clubs my father belonged to had a Beech 33 and a Beech 36 a Cessna 152 172 and 182, and a Mooney M20C. The lil Mooney stood out from the others although I liked them all.